Historical route lab

Poople #365 WAVE Answer

Poople #365 started at WAVE on August 14, 2026. Its flexible opening changes letters in the sequence W>C, V>M, A>O, E>P, M>O, C>P, with 7 par-preserving first moves.

Replay WAVE Scores & notes Browse archive

Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for WAVE, including 18 legal openings and route signature 1-3-2-4-3-1.

Calculated from the current word graph

WAVE route profile

Par6 moves7 words including start and target

Shortest routes26Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves187 keep par

Route shapeflexible openingLetter positions 1-3-2-4-3-1

Spoiler controls

Choose how much to reveal

The hint describes the move without naming the word. The full route stays closed until you ask for it.

Reveal a direction, not a word

The current row reads W-A-V-E. Change position 1 and keep positions 2, 3, 4 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-consonant change. 7 different first moves preserve the shortest length.

Reveal the complete 6-move answer

WAVE -> CAVE -> CAME -> COME -> COMP -> COOP -> POOP

Step 0WAVEStart

Step 1CAVEBridge

Step 2CAMEBridge

Step 3COMEBridge

Step 4COMPBridge

Step 5COOPBridge

Step 6POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Step 1WAVE -> CAVE

Tile 1 changes W to C; the move is sideways by letter shape. CAVE has 19 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from WAVE include SAVE, WAKE, WARE, PAVE.
Step 2CAVE -> CAME

Tile 3 changes V to M; the move is sideways by letter shape. CAME has 20 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from CAVE include COVE, CASE, CARE, SAVE.
Step 3CAME -> COME

Tile 2 changes A to O; the move is closer by letter shape. COME has 17 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from CAME include CAMP, SAME, CAMS, DAME.
Step 4COME -> COMP

Tile 4 changes E to P; the move is closer by letter shape. COMP has 8 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from COME include POME, HOME, SOME, DOME.
Step 5COMP -> COOP

Tile 3 changes M to O; the move is closer by letter shape. COOP has 14 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from COMP include POMP, COUP, ROMP, CAMP.
Step 6COOP -> POOP

Tile 1 changes C to P; the move is closer by letter shape. POOP has 11 legal neighbors, target reached, and 0 moves remaining. Other legal exits from COOP include LOOP, HOOP, BOOP, GOOP.

Opening decision

Which first moves preserve par?

WAVE has 18 legal one-letter neighbors. SAVE, WAKE, CAVE, WARE, PAVE, WALE, WOVE keep the route at 6 moves, while sampled detours begin HAVE (+1), GAVE (+1), WAGE (+1), WADE (+1).

Compare 11 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
SAVE	1: W -> S	6	Keeps par	1
WAKE	3: V -> K	6	Keeps par	1
CAVE	1: W -> C	6	Keeps par	8
WARE	3: V -> R	6	Keeps par	2
PAVE	1: W -> P	6	Keeps par	4
WALE	3: V -> L	6	Keeps par	4
WOVE	2: A -> O	6	Keeps par	6
HAVE	1: W -> H	7	Adds 1 move	24
GAVE	1: W -> G	7	Adds 1 move	25
WAGE	3: V -> G	7	Adds 1 move	18
WADE	3: V -> D	7	Adds 1 move	9

WAVE opening fingerprint

WAVE groups its legal first moves as tile 1: SAVE, CAVE, PAVE, HAVE, GAVE, FAVE, RAVE, NAVE, LAVE, EAVE; tile 2: WOVE; tile 3: WAKE, WARE, WALE, WAGE, WADE, WANE; tile 4: WAVY. Two moves from the start, 122 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is COVE, DOVE, PALE, PARE, SAME, WALL, WOKE, WORE, BADE, BALE, BANE, BARE, CAFE, CAGE, CAKE, CANE, CAPE, CARE, CASE, DALE, DARE, FAME, FARE, GALE.

Your route

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Graph reading

COOP is the narrowest displayed bridge

After COMP becomes COOP, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as POMP, COUP, ROMP, CAMP show what the route declined.

Direct-shape gains: 4
Sideways steps: 2
Temporary shape detours: 0
Steps touching a vowel: 3

How these figures were calculated

Poople recomputes adjacency and distance from the accepted 2,398-word graph. "Shortest routes" counts every path that lowers the remaining distance by one at each move; it is not a guess based on page text or player scores.

The displayed answer is one shortest route selected from that graph. Community scores and notes are kept separate because they describe player activity, not the mathematical route.

Data mode: live Graph synced: 2026-08-14 18:35 UTC Puzzle date: August 14, 2026